Is it eir or have I messed this up?

db707

Hi, l have eir VDSL (FTTC) and have an eir F2000 modem/router. I use a mixture of wifi and power line adapters to about 20 devices (laptops, iPads, iPhones, tv, sky, hue, echo speakers) connected. It has never been totally reliable but in the last few months its got really bad, I experience three issues:

1)Randomly getting kicked off wifi (happens hourly).
2)Loss of DSL/Internet completely (happens a few times a day and usually requires a reboot of the f2000) which takes 5 - 15mins.
3)Very slow connection speeds (<1Mbits/sec) but in fairness this is rare.

I work from home and have 2 kids doing school from home so we need a reliable connection. I am missing and dropping off zoom calls for work every day now because of issues 1 and 2. loosing the internet every few hours for a period of 5 - 15 minutes makes things really difficult.

I have been onto eir a few times over the last couple of weeks and they have helped me through a lot of standard settings and factory reset of the f2000 including issuing it with a new IP. The last time I called them they said they could see a major fault on my line so they dispatched a technician. He came and said everything looked perfect in terms of the physical connections from the home socket to the local junction. He tested the dsl and again said it was showing 100MBits/sec so should be perfect. He then plugged back in the f2000 modem router and noticed it could not establish a DSL connection. He replaced the modem with another f2000. It worked, he left and a couple of hours later we lost internet connection for maybe 10 minutes until I rebooted the modem.

In an effort to try and resolve this myself I have now bought a decent router (Asus RT-AX88u), I have put the F2000 into bridge mode and entered the correct settings (I believe) into the Asus router. I now have really stable wifi with much better speeds (50-70mbits/sec) and no cases of being kicked off the wifi.

However after working perfectly for 24hours, we lost internet today at lunchtime I rebooted the f2000, it came back after about 10mins and then we lost it again a couple of hours later, I rebooted again and it came back again. While I was going through this I noticed no the Asus router interface it was saying the internet lease had expired and when the internet is reestablished it looks like it only has a limited time, I have attached a few pictures to highlight this.

Sorry to have a long story but I would really appreciate some guidance. I don't want to call eir if I have got something basic wrong setting up the ASUS router. Any advice greatly appreciated.

celtic_oz

power line adapters are notorious for drop outs, you can test this by using a laptop and testing with a constant ping to the router

IMO you need to go as much wired as you can and use mesh for the rest.

https://uk.pcmag.com/wireless-networking/87178/the-best-wi-fi-mesh-network-systems

db707

@celtic_oz I am sure you are right that wired connections are better than power-line. I think my issue is not from the router to the device, that connection is solid. I think my issue is between the router and the modem (which is a short CAT5E cable) or between the router, the modem and the ISP. It seems the router is getting issued a short (1 hour) lease from the modem(or ISP) and when it expires I loose the internet connection. I can re-establish by rebooting the f2000 modem....but I would need to do this every hour.

I am not sure if the router can 'request' a new lease from the wan/modem/ISP. If it could I could set the time to 30mins so it auto-renews before it expires but I cannot find a setting anywhere in the ASUS interface (I know I can manage IP's and leases on the LAN but I don't think that is my issue).

Fear I might need to dive into the F2000 eir interface next to see if I can find anything that might work.

CoBo55

Are you connecting the F2000 directly to the Eir ntu, no extension cables extra phone sockets etc? You would be better off just using the Asus on its own. There are guides around on how to do this, I have VM myself but it isn't too difficult.

db707

Thanks @CoBo55 yes f2000 connected directly to the main phone connection, no extensions etc. I cannot connect the ASUS directly as it is only a router and I need the f2000 (in bridge mode) to act as the modem. I have one cat5e cable coming out of the F2000 and into the wan port on the ASUS and then letting the ASUS manage the LAN (which it is doing perfectly)

Just a note to say that since this afternoon I have not lost the internet connection from the F2000 even though the WAN lease has expired. I am not convinced that the issue is with the lease at all.

trant

Your Asus router is in router mode. If the F2000 is establishing the connection via PPPoE you seem to be doing it twice. The Asus should be in access point mode if the F2000 truly is the router (and DHCP server).

I wonder if your disconnection issues are due to establishing two PPPoE connections?

As the other poster suggested, unless you need the F2000 (e.g. for a VOIP phone) you’re better off taking it out of the equation.

CoBo55

trant wrote: »

Your Asus router is in router mode. If the F2000 is establishing the connection via PPPoE you seem to be doing it twice. The Asus should be in access point mode if the F2000 truly is the router (and DHCP server).

I wonder if your disconnection issues are due to establishing two PPPoE connections?

As the other poster suggested, unless you need the F2000 (e.g. for a VOIP phone) you’re better off taking it out of the equation.

The asus he has doesn't have an internal modem it can only act as a router, the F2000 is the modem doing the PPPoE connection only as it's in bridge mode.

CoBo55

db707 wrote: »

Thanks @CoBo55 yes f2000 connected directly to the main phone connection, no extensions etc. I cannot connect the ASUS directly as it is only a router and I need the f2000 (in bridge mode) to act as the modem. I have one cat5e cable coming out of the F2000 and into the wan port on the ASUS and then letting the ASUS manage the LAN (which it is doing perfectly)

Just a note to say that since this afternoon I have not lost the internet connection from the F2000 even though the WAN lease has expired. I am not convinced that the issue is with the lease at all.

No I couldn't see an internal lease expiring causing dsl issues. DSL issues are problems with the physical copper connection between your F2000 and the cabinet, maybe try a different rj11 cable from the F2000 to the Eir socket although it's probably outside the house somewhere. What sort of connection is coming to the house? Is it overhead from a pole or is it underground?

db707

Thanks @CoBo55 it’s an underground cable to the house, the eir technician last week mentioned that all the connections looked good but if the problem continues then a new cable might need to be installed. Unfortunetly no FTTH available where I am otherwise I would be jumping onto it.

smuggler.ie

Not familiar with device, but am i missing something here ?
Why there are two WAN IP/SubMask fields ? Dual WAN enabled?

CoBo55

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Not familiar with device, but am i missing something here ?
Why there are two WAN IP/SubMask fields ? Dual WAN enabled?

You can turn that off and just use single wan. Dual wan can be used if you have a second ISP, you use the wan port for one ISP and make one of the other Lan ports a wan port for a second ISP. It's available on my Asus too.

smuggler.ie

CoBo55 wrote: »

You can turn that off and just use single wan. Dual wan can be used if you have a second ISP, you use the wan port for one ISP and make one of the other Lan ports a wan port for a second ISP. It's available on my Asus too.

Yes, but what connection it is set now?
WAN and WAN ? Both IP's show 86.45.xxx.xxx for both = Eir
Could it be that it is switching between connections hence dropout ?

CoBo55

I only spotted your two pics there now. Try re establishing the connection using dynamic in the drop down menu not pppoe, that's what I use on my Asus. The pppoe work is being done by the F2000 (VM hub in my case). If you can stabilise the connection between both routers any other drops will be between the F2000 and the cabinet (flashing DSL etc)

trant

Yes, my point was that the Asus shouldn’t be creating its own PPPoE connection if the F2000 is doing that already.

CoBo55

trant wrote: »

Yes, my point was that the Asus shouldn’t be creating its own PPPoE connection if the F2000 is doing that already.

I think dynamic should work perfectly, I only spotted the two pictures this morning... Doh!!!

db707

Thanks for all the responses. The connection has been fine overnight so maybe things have settled down. I cannot select ‘dynamic’ as the WAN connection type (see attached screenshot), maybe ‘Automatic’ ?

Dual Lan setting available but it is switched off, so that should be ok.

trant

Automatic IP is fine, you don’t want the router establishing its own PPPoE. This could be the cause of the short lease your Asus router is getting as the ISP sees two same connections from the same circuit?

If your F2000 is in fact controlling DHCP, PPPoE and firewall, I’d consider putting the ASUS into access point mode instead of router mode to avoid double NAT.

CoBo55

db707 wrote: »

Thanks for all the responses. The connection has been fine overnight so maybe things have settled down. I cannot select ‘dynamic’ as the WAN connection type (see attached screenshot), maybe ‘Automatic’ ?

Dual Lan setting available but it is switched off, so that should be ok.

I did see that pic!! Yes try automatic and leave pppoe to the F2000.
Just looked at mine, it's automatic it's set to. I think it was the TpLink that used dynamic, sorry about that, turn off upnp while your there I don't like it.